Forthcoming MMO genre-shaker Everquest Next, and it’s building sub-game/precursor Landmark, have been fleshed out in a little more detail over at Seattle mega-con, PAX, thanks to the machinations of PC Gamer. You can examine the videos from this reveal with your own Eye Of Sauron, below. The first shows some movement through the world of next, and the second shows a little bit more of what we can expect from Landmark’s sandboxian engine.

It is F2P for certain. SOE has a track record that’s all over the map for F2P implementation, though. The noise they’ve made so far hints at it being consumer friendly, but who really knows at this point?

As a Planetside 2 player, I’ve learned to watch for double- or even triple-point days, then cash in Walmart cards. The walmart cards are $15 for $20 worth of points, and it will double/triple the TOTAL, so you can get $60 worth of credit for $15.

Might be worth keeping an eye out because, if it’s like PS2, they’re loathe to do one of these soon AFTER launch. But if you stocked up beforehand…

I find it really hard to calibrate my hype for this game, honestly. I mean, SOE’ve demonstrated the voxel stuff already, they’ve demonstrated the “heroic movement”, and they’ve demonstrated some of the combat. They’ve got an excellent piece of technology licensed to help them run the AI, they’ve shown off character customization concept art that includes ladydwarf beards, they have proven they can make simulated economies with SWG, and they’ve proven they can do some incredible network technology with Planetside 2. Most of the components that they have been bragging about are things that SOE have shown they can do. The AI is the biggest question mark right now because the Storybricks stuff hasn’t been seen in the wild too much yet.

I guess the closest comparison point isn’t other MMORPGs, but probably something more like Spore? Cool tech and great ideas, but can it all come together and be fun to play?

I’m not that impressed by the movement. Maybe it’s a breakthrough for an MMO, but I’ve been spoiled by the more realistic interaction with the environment in games like Mirror’s Edge (I have to admit, it was a pain to play). And I want more. Show me a game where you have to clamber up a slope instead of zig-zagging or slide down it on your arse instead of gliding down on your heels listening to a looping landing sound.